Medicine cabinet body



P. LITNER April 18, 1967 MEDICINE CABINET BODY Filed Oct. 15, 1965 n! M W R mwu m M m.

United States Patent Office 3,314,?41 Patented Apr. 18, 1967 3,314,741 MElDliClNE CABINET BODY Philip Litner, Chicago, Ill, assignor to Curtis-Electra Lighting, Incorporated, Chicago, Ill., a corporation of Illinois Filed Oct. 13, 1965, Ser. No. 495,628 1 Claim. (Cl. 312-242) This invention relates to improvements in cabinets and is more particularly concerned with what is commonly known as a medicine cabinet used in bathrooms characterized in having the body thereof molded or formed in one piece with integrally molded shelves formed therein.

More particularly, the cabinet body is fabricated from a single sheet of suitable plastic material, such for example as polyvinyl chloride, with integral shelves formed by deep drawing of the sheet material or otherwise forming same, as by molding, in such manner that the shelves comprise two thicknesses of the sheet material. These two thicknesses of material constitute the top and bottom walls of the shelf and they are necessarily spaced apart along their full depth and joined at their forward end. The space between the top and bottom walls is filled with a suitable plastic foam material, such, for example, as polyurethane, so as to impart rigidity to the body without materially increasing its weight. The resultant cabinet body is devoid of the seams, structural openings and sharp square inside corners usually present in cabinets formed in a conventional manner from sheet metal.

It is therefore an object of the invention to provide a body for a medicine cabinet or the like formed or molded from a single sheet of material.

Another object is to provide such a cabinet body, having shelves formed integrally therewith, which are drawn from a single sheet of material.

A further object is to provide a cabinet body with spaced shelves therein formed from a single thin plastic sheet, with novel means to reinforce the integrally formed shelves thereof.

A still further object of the invention is to provide a cabinet body of the character referred to and particularly useful in medicine cabinets which is not expensive or difiicult to produce, easy to install and which is very efficient in use.

With the foregoing and other objects in View which will appear as the description proceeds, the invention consists of certain novel features of construction, arrangement and a combination of parts hereinafter fully described, illustrated in the accompanying drawings, and particularly pointed out in the appended claims, it being understood that various changes in the form, proportion, size and minor details of the structure may be made without departing from the spirit or sacrificing any of the advantages of the invention.

For purposes of facilitating an understanding of my invention, I have illustrated in the accompanying drawings a preferred embodiment thereof, from an inspection of which, when considered in connection with the following description, my invention, its mode of construction, assembly and operation, and many of its advantages should be readily understood and appreciated.

Referring to the drawings in which the same characters of reference are employed to indicate corresponding or similar parts throughout the several figures of the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a cabinet body embodying the invention, showing a closure door for the same in open position.

FIG. 2 is a vertical sectional view of the cabinet body.

FIG. 3 is a horizontal sectional view thereof.

Referring to the exemplary disclosure of a cabinet embodying the features of the present invention as shown in the accompanying drawings, the cabinet body 11 may be fitted with a door 12. The body is fabricated by molding or by deep drawing of a thin sheet of suitable plastic material, such as polyvinyl chloride. Because the material is non-porous it is impervious to contamination and therefore most desirable for this purpose. As shown, the body, when formed has a back wall 13 and forwardly extending side, top and bottom walls 14, 15 and 16 respectively, having rounded inside corners 17 at all of their junctures. Preferably the side, top and bottom walls terminate at their forward edges in a perimeter face 13 having a rearwardly extending flange 19.

Any desired number of shelves 21 are formed integrally with the body. As illustrated best in FIG. 2, these shelves have the same configuration and each is formed by extending the material of the back wall forwardly into the interior of the body. This produces a shelf 21 having two thicknesses or walls 21a formed from the sheet material which walls are joined at their front edges by a rounded connector wall 21b. The upper surface 21a is disposed at a slight incline from its rear toward the front. The space formed between said walls 21a opens at its ends into the cabinet body side walls 1-4.

The space between the companion shelf walls 21a of each shelf is filled with a plastic foam, preferably polyurethane 22, securely bonded or fused thereto so as to afford rigidity to the shelf and cabinet. Polyurethane foam or its equivalent is selected because of its lightness in weight.

It should be apparent that applicant has provided a rugged, lightweight, inexpensive cabinet body having in tegral shelves and one wherein there are no sharp corners or openings that are usually found in conventionally constructed cabinets of this character. As a result of this construction the cabinet can be maintained in a highly sanitary condition with very little effort.

It is believed that my invention, its mode of construction and assembly, and many of its advantages should be readily understood from the foregoing without further description, and it should also be manifest that while a preferred embodiment of the invention has been shown and described for illustrative purposes, the structural details are nonetheless capable of wide variation within the purview of my invention as defined in the appended claim.

I claim:

A cabinet comprising a body formed from a single sheet of material having a rear vertical wall, a pair of side walls, a top wall and a bottom wall formed integrally therewith and peripherally around said rear wall and extending forwardly therefrom and approximately perpendicular thereto to provide a receptacle having an opening throughout the front plane thereof, the forward edges of said marginal walls having a face flange projecting outwardly from said edges in a plane substantially parallel to said rear wall and extending peripherally around said opening, a side flange formed integrally with the outer edge of said face flange and projecting rearwardly therefrom in a direction approximately perpendicular to said rear wall and extending peripherally around said face flange, at least one shelf in said body formed integrally with said rear wall and extending forwardly therefrom, said shelf being comprised of two thicknesses of said sheet material defining spaced apart upper and lower walls, said shelf walls extending forwardly from said rear wall and terminating at their forward ends in a common integral front wall, and a plastic foam material filling the space between the two walls of said shelf and bonded thereto to strengthen said shelf and body, said plastic foam ma- 3 ter ia1 terminating in substantial planar alignment with 2,962,183 11/ 1960 Rill 220-9 sa1d rear Wall and side walls. FOREIGN PATENTS References Cited by the Examiner 540,142 4/ 1957 c d UNITED STATES PATENTS 5 CLAUDE A. LE ROY Primary Examiner. 1,751,107 3/1930 Smith 312-242 X CHANCELLOR E. HARRIS, Examiner.

2,767,558 10/1956 Wallenbrock 62-11725 

